Microwave ovens presently in use employ various input devices such as electrical and mechanical keyboards, card readers, etc. for entering the input data into the microwave controller. In such units the oven user manually actuates the keyboard to enter data relating to the type or mode of oven operation desired, i.e., bake, roast, reheat, etc., as well as the length of the desired cooking time. Recently, with the incorporation of microprocessor controllers for the magnetron power source, magnetic card readers can be used to enter information from a manually selected magnetic card containing cooking instructions.
The present microprocessor controllers are capable of receiving a substantial amount of information. In order to utilize present day microwave ovens incorporating such controllers, and in order to achieve the best cooking results, a substantial amount of information must be entered. This requires the oven user to manually enter a long series of input data on the keyboard, increasing the chances of error in the cooking instructions. While a magnetic card could be selected which contains all of the required input data, the information format does not allow flexibility in changing the cooking instructions. This is often desired by the oven user. Thus, it is desired to fully utilize the capability of microprocessor controllers by enabling the oven user to very rapidly and accurately enter the cooking information while simultaneously simplifying the operations required by the user as well as providing flexibility in changing the instructions.